Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the percentage of Government contracts in his Department that were awarded to non-Irish companies in the three years 2009 to 2011 inclusive; and the percentage of these that went to EU companies in that period. [55257/12]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Under EU Directives on public procurement public works, supplies and service contracts above certain thresholds must be advertised on the Official Journal of the EU and awarded on the basis of objective and non-restrictive criteria. As we cannot include nationality as a criterion in deciding on contract award my Department does not therefore hold these records.

The aim of these European rules is to promote an open, competitive and non-discriminatory public procurement regime which delivers best value for money. It would be a breach of the rules for a public body to favour or discriminate against particular candidates on grounds of nationality and there are legal remedies which may be used against any public body infringing these rules. In this regard, it is worth pointing out that the open market regime also offers opportunities for Irish companies to win business abroad and reliable EU studies indicate that many Irish businesses are successful in this regard.

The public procurement market in the EU is estimated to be valued in excess of €2 trillion. The open market regime affords opportunities to Irish companies to win business abroad as part of the EU Single Market.